A philosophical guide to passengerhood, with reflections on time, space, existence, boredom, our sense of self, and our sense of the senses.
While there are entire bookstore sections-and even entire bookstores-devoted to travel, there have been few books on the universal experience of being a passenger. With this book, philosopher Michael Marder fills the gap, offering a philosophical guide to passengerhood. He takes readers from ticketing and preboarding (preface and introduction) through a series of stops and detours (reflections on topics including time, space, existence, boredom, our sense of self, and our sense of the senses) to destination and disembarking (conclusion).
Marder finds that the experience of passengers in the twenty-first century is experience itself, stretching well beyond railroad tracks and airplane flight patterns. On his journey through passengerhood, he considers, among many other things, passenger togetherness, which goes hand in hand with passenger loneliness; flyover country and the idea of placeness; and Descartes in an airplane seat. He tells us that the word metaphor means transport in Greek and discusses the gray area between literalness and metaphoricity; explains the connection between reading and riding; and ponders the difference between destination and destiny. Finally, a Beckettian disembarking- you might not be able to disembark, yet you must disembark. After the voyage in the world ends, the journey of understanding begins.
By:
Michael Marder,
Tomas Saraceno
Imprint: Massachusetts Inst of Tec
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 178mm,
Width: 127mm,
Weight: 369g
ISBN: 9780262543712
ISBN 10: 0262543710
Pages: 136
Publication Date: 17 May 2022
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Ticketing 1 Preboarding 7 The Boarding Process (A): The Basics 13 The Boarding Process (B): The Passenger Society 25 Stop no. 1: Mood 37 Stop no. 2: Time 55 Detour no. 1: No Pasarán! 67 Stop no. 3: Place 75 Stop no. 4: Existence 89 Detour no. 2: Passengers, Hollywood Style 101 Stop no. 5: Transport 109 Stop no. 6: Metaphor 121 Connection/Transfer: Passages 133 Stop no. 7: Reading, Riding 139 Stop no. 8: Security 149 Detour no. 3: ""The Yellow Arrow"" 161 Stop no. 9: Senses 173 Stop no. 10: Destination, Destiny 191 Disembarking 203 A Note on Images 207 Notes 217"
Michael Marder is Ikerbasque Research Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of the Basque Country (UPV-EHU). He is the author of The Philosopher's Plant- An Intellectual Herbarium, Dump Philosophy- A Phenomenology of Devastation, and other books.
